NovX Lightweight Ammunition
The philosopher Erasmus was considered by some to have been the last man who could have, and did, know everything that could be known. Of course, being born a few decades before Columbus sailed helped him there, as the pace of “new” was not what it later became. Today, just trying to keep up can become exhausting.
Consider NovX ammunition. A short while back I received a box of new cases except they weren’t made of brass. The cases were from Shell Shock Technologies (SST), named NAS3, a hybrid mix of stainless steel and aluminum. I thought, Okay, this is new. Days later, a carton of loaded ammo arrived.Fast-forward several weeks and G&A’s editor sent me a few boxes of NovX ammunition. It obviously featured the 65-grain PolyCase ARX and round-nose projectiles (RNP) made of a proprietary polymer-copper blend, and they were loaded in SST cases. How’s a guy supposed to keep up?
Making the case. Let’s discuss what the casings are all about because they are different than the norm. The case walls are composed of a nickel-alloy stainless steel for springiness and neck tension that’s needed to hold a bullet long enough for efficient combustion. That, and they keep the bullet in place while the round is stripped from a magazine, shoved up the feed ramp and chambered.
The case rim and head is made of 7078 heat-treated aluminum, and the combo makes for a very lightweight casing. The stainless steel makes the case strong enough for loading, and the aluminum will securely hold the primer and withstand extraction.
How about longevity? I ran into an instance of short-lived brass more than a couple of decades ago. A brand of Chinese 9mm was brought
